Lifestyles

METRO DETROIT — Any journey can be made easier with a map and a traveling companion.

That’s the idea the Area Agency on Aging 1-B had when it launched its six-week Diabetes Personal Action Toward Health workshop, which is designed to give participants the skills and tools they need to manage Type 2 diabetes for themselves or a loved one.

And there are plenty of people to fit in that category, according to Kathleen Clark, wellness programs sales manager for AAA1-B.

Officials from the Oakland County Health Division are reminding residents to take proper precautions against West Nile virus this summer, as a pool of mosquitoes recently tested positive for the disease.

“We have traps set in Oakland County, and we routinely go through and check the traps for mosquitoes and test them for West Nile,” Kathy Forzley, manager of the Oakland County Health Division, said. “We had our first positive.”

Meditating is seemingly a growing trend in the city, a way to destress from daily struggles, Farmington Hills husband and wife James and Jyothi Joseph said June 23 at the Farmington Community Library’s main branch.

The meditation leaders in the Troy-based Heartfulness Institute discussed upcoming meditation courses and how nearly two decades ago, this would not have really been a topic.

MOUNT CLEMENS — McLaren Macomb, the 288-bed, Mount Clemens-based hospital, has established a Pulmonary Embolism Response Team to utilize the latest technology to quickly treat pulmonary embolisms, or P.E.

Composed of cardiologists, pulmonologists, emergency medicine physicians and vascular surgeons, the goal of McLaren Macomb PERT is to reduce long-term symptoms of patients with pulmonary embolisms — a blood clot blocking flow in one of the pulmonary arteries.

ST. CLAIR SHORES — After being in and out of a hospital or nursing home for three years, losing her business and her home, and having to relocate from Holly down to Fraser to be closer to her sisters, who are nurses, Charlene Soleau said her diagnosis of Multiple System Atrophy was “devastating.”

“For me, personally, it has completely turned my life in a different direction,” said Soleau. “It took a very long time to diagnose this. It’s very rare. It was devastating. I’m single.”

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — The fifth annual Run the Plank 5K event is set to return to Macomb Township on Saturday, June 25.

The number of participants in the event has grown each year since its 2012 inception, although rain dampened turnout a bit last year.

The course remains the same from previous editions, as runners will begin in front of Immanuel Lutheran Church on Romeo Plank Road just north of 21 Mile Road, and finish at St. Peter Luteran Church at Romeo Plank and 24 Mile Road.

WARREN — An army of city employees equipped with larvicide to treat standing water and citations for those who don’t comply with the code of ordinances has been deployed against the onset of mosquitoes and any illnesses they may carry into Warren this year.

A Sterling Heights state representative is hoping that a set of recently proposed bills in the state House of Representatives that would prevent minors from buying e-cigarettes will eventually become law and not vanish like a vapor.

State Rep. Henry Yanez, D-Sterling Heights, is the primary sponsor of a three-bill package of proposals, House Bills 5686-5688, introduced May 24. The bills, which have attracted co-sponsors, aim to regulate e-cigarettes and other electronic smoking devices.

SOUTHFIELD/LATHRUP VILLAGE — Several drinking fountains and sinks were found to contain high numbers of lead during recent testing at Southfield Public Schools.

According to a letter sent out May 11 to SPS parents, staff and community members by Superintendent Lynda Wood, the district participated in voluntary water screenings April 23. District water sources were tested for lead and copper.

That’s what Daniela Richard said of her 6-year-son, Gabriel, who was diagnosed at age 5 with pilomyxoid astrocytoma — or brain cancer — in March 2015.

Gabriel has a tumor in the front of his brain. He has undergone 12 months of chemotherapy and has another nine months ahead of him. His body is so fragile that he has no immune system. He could have a heart attack from something as simple as a slight bone break.

While Christopher Hillier has hiked over 10,000 miles since 2011, he knows he has to be careful when he talks about his passion and experiences on the trail.

Hillier will present “Taking the Walk: Long Distance Hiking with Christopher Hillier” at 7 p.m. April 26 at the Troy Public Library.

“He’s spoken at other libraries, and we thought this would be a good opening to our summer reading, of which the focus is wellness,” said Lauren Bartell, adult information librarian, who is also a hiker.

FARMINGTON — Getting a good night’s sleep is creating a lot of buzz in Farmington and beyond.

Representatives from the local nonprofit organization Sweet Dreamzzz Inc. recently met up with Mehmet Oz from the “Dr. Oz” show to discuss the fundamentals of getting enough zzz’s for students to maintain their As and Bs.

Sweet Dreamzzz Inc. Executive Director Nancy Maxwell said recently that she is looking forward to the show airing soon.

SOUTHFIELD — A local hospital is one of the first institutions in the country to test a new technique of treating heart attacks.

Providence-Providence Park Hospital, 16001 W. Nine Mile Road, announced recently that it is the first hospital in the U.S. to enroll a patient in a study of a system that uses oxygen to reduce the damage caused by heart attacks.

Called the Evaluation of Intracoronary Hyperoxemic Oxygen Therapy study, it will involve 100 patients at up to 15 centers across the country.

METRO DETROIT — March is National Nutrition Month, and dietitians are urging people to review their food habits and get back to the basics of eating healthy.

National Nutrition Week began in 1973, but as the number of people interested in promoting nutrition increased, the program expanded and became National Nutrition Month in 1980. National Nutrition Month is sponsored by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.